Imperial Decides on Name for New U.S. Business

GREENSBORO, N.C. — Imperial Tobacco Group continues to prepare for its acquisition of certain U.S. assets as a result of the pending merger of Reynolds American Inc. and Lorillard Inc.

In the latest development, United Kingdom-based Imperial Tobacco revealed that the new company to be formed from its existing U.S. business, Commonweath-Altadis, and certain Reynolds and Lorillard brands will be called ITG Brands LLC.

Lorillard announced the new company name to its employees in a memo from Bill Crump, senior vice president of human resources. The memo was in keeping with the Greensboro-based company's efforts to keep its employees informed "about the ongoing progress of our merger agreement with Reynolds American and the associated process of integration planning between Lorillard and Imperial Tobacco/Commonwealth-Altadis," Crump noted.

The new company name follows news that Imperial Tobacco plans to headquarter the newly created company in Lorillard's current offices at 714 Green Valley Road in Greensboro, as CSNews Online previously reported.

Under the structure of the RAI-Lorillard deal, Winston-Salem, N.C.-based RAI will buy Lorillard for $27.4 billion. After that transaction closes, Imperial Tobacco will pay $7.1 billion for the Winston, Kool and Salem brands from RAI and the Maverick and blu eCig brands from Lorillard, as CSNews Online previously reported.

In addition, Imperial Tobacco will acquire Lorillard's infrastructure, which includes the company's manufacturing facility, headquarters offices, research and development facility, and approximately 2,900 employees.

These acquisitions will build on Imperial's existing U.S. portfolio at Commonwealth-Altadis, which currently accounts for a 3-percent share of the U.S. market, principally through the USA Gold brand. The deal will make Imperial Tobacco the third-largest tobacco company in the United States with a 10-percent share of the cigarette market.